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Research projects

Long-term assessment of land use and cover changes, land degradation and resilience in Tigray (Ethiopia)
Assignment: UGent Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Jan Nyssen
Description: This project proposes a medium and long term research on land degradation and remedial interventions in Tigray, North Ethiopia. For this purpose, we will build upon our previous research experience on land degradation and resilience in this region and will network intensively with colleagues with similar background. We propose: (1) To assess and characterise the evolution of land degradation and resilience, based on LUC changes and conservation activities over the last 150 years; (2) To analyse bio-physical and socio-economic driving forces of changes; (3) To examine the consequences of LUC and climate changes on geomorphology and hydrology; (4) To develop spatially explicit scenarios of LUC changes and geomorphic and hydrological processes in the upcoming 30 years.
Project time: 2011-2015
Sustainable TouRism based On Natural resource management with Gender Balance tOwards Women - STRONGBOW
Assignment: NUFFIC (Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education)
Grant holder(s): VU Amsterdam; KULeuven; UGent; Central University of Technology (S. Africa)
Dr. Henk van den Heuvel (VU): project coordinator; Dr. Denyse Snelder (VU): project director; Prof. Dr. Jan Nyssen (UGent): academic director
Description: STRONGBOW - a project specifically designed for capacity building within 5 HEIs in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa University, Jimma University, Hawassa University, Mizan-Tepi University and Arba-Minch University) in the fields of natural resource management, tourism and (eco) tourism ? constitutes a powerful programme to address an important set of interwoven, problematic issues. The project concept has been developed by the Horn of Africa Regional Center (HoAREC). The STRONGBOW strategy has been designed entirely around the principle of sustainability: staff training; gender balancing; continuous professional development; ownership in terms of management and organisation; establishing demand-driven research and linkages with stakeholders; investments in the key area of (eco) tourism, based on sound natural resource management; catering to labour market needs and the involvement of the private sector.
Project time: 2011-2014
Water and sediment budgets of Lake Tana for optimisation of land management and water allocation (Ethiopia)
Assignment: Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Jan Nyssen (Department of Geography)
Description: The project will (1) increase the understanding of hydrology and sediment in order to develop tools and strategies that would contribute to proper planning and management of land and water resources of the Lake Tana basin, and hence (2) enhance the capacity of Bahir Dar University and local institutions (PhD and MSc training) and to promote integration among stakeholders dealing with land and water issues. A hydrological model and a sediment budget will be quantified for Lake Tana basin; catchment management maps and decision support system for water allocation will be prepared; and research outcomes made available to stakeholder organizations, policy makers and the broad public.
Project time: 2010-2015
Be-REDD-I (Belgian REDD Investigations)
Assignment: Belgian Federal Science Policy Office - Science for a Sustainable Development
Grant holder(s): Dr. Tom Dauwe (VITO)
Research assistant(s): Prof. Dr. Jan Nyssen (Department of Geography)
Description:

UGent's Department of Geography participates in this cluster (VITO, ICRAF, UGent, UCL, KULeuven) project that aims at contributing to the reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries

Objectives

  1. Assess methodological issues regarding monitoring land use changes (deforestation, degradation and regreening) using low and high resolution satellite imagery.
  2. Testing of a framework to assess the sustainability of REDD+ mechanisms regarding environment (Carbon sequestration), the economics (e.g. leakage) and the social aspects (livelihoods and local perspectives)
  3. Integrate and link Belgian expertise on REDD related issues with selected international institutions.
  4. Draw lessons for the relevant Belgian policy level (DGDC, BTC, DG for the environment)
Project time: 2010-2011
Repeat photography for analysis of desertification and resilience in northern Ethiopia since 140 years
Assignment: FWO
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Jan Nyssen
Description: This study makes a geographically explicit analysis of desertification and impact of control measures in a 300 x 35 km2 transect strip across the northern Ethiopian highlands. All available terrestrial and aerial photographs, as well as satellite imagery, are used to map and analyse medium- and long-term tendencies of desertification, taking into account proximate drivers, explanatory factors and consequences.
Project time: 2009-2011
Mekelle University - Institutional University Cooperation, Land Project
Assignment: Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Jean Poesen
Research assistant(s): Dr. Jan Nyssen, Drs. Amaury Frankl
Description: The MU-IUC 'Land' project assesses the importance of the different land degradation processes and controlling factors leading to runoff, sediment production, transport and delivery as well as to sediment-fixed nutrient movement (sources and sinks) within the Geba catchment (north Ethiopia). The Department of Geography of Ghent University contributes to this through studies on historical land use and land cover changes (over the last 150 years) and its impact on gully network development.
Project time: 2003-2013
Mekelle University - Institutional University Cooperation, "More Crop per Drop" Project
Assignment: Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. ir. Dirk Raes
Research assistant(s): Prof. Dr. Wim Cornelis and drs. Tesfay Araya (Department of Soil Management), Dr. Jan Nyssen (Department of Geography)
Description: UGent's Department of Geography participates to the MU-IUC 'More Crop per Drop project', especially with regard to research on Conservation Agriculture. Besides contributing to fitting the approaches in the existing agricultural system, the impact of reduced tillage and bed-and-furrowing on runoff and sediment production are assessed.
Project time: 2003-2013
Prehistoric settlement and land-use systems in Sandy Flanders (NW Belgium): a diachronic and geo-archaeological approach.
Assignment: Geconcerteerde Onderzoeksactie - Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds - Universiteit Gent
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Philippe Crombé
Research assistant(s): Drs. Amaury Frankl
Project time: 01/04/2008 - 31/03/2012
Recent treeline dynamics in sub-Arctic Sweden: a multidisciplinary regional assessment.
Assignment: FWO
Grant holder(s): Rik Van Bogaert
Description: The study aims to detect and explain recent shifts in the polar treeline area in a model area in northernmost Sweden (Abisko). We investigate how trees, at their biogeographic limit, respond to recent environmental changes.
Project time: 01/10/2005 - 30/09/2009
Understanding the subarctic tree line dynamics: from the experimental plot to the catchment and beyond.
Assignment: ATANS (FP6 Contract N° 506004)
Grant holder(s): Rik Van Bogaert
Description: ATANS (Access To Abisko Naturvetenskapliga Station) within the EU Transnational Access Programme (FP6 Contract N° 506004) for the period 2005-2008. This grant will financially support travel and accommodation costs at the Abisko Station.
Project time: 01/10/2005 - 30/09/2009
Geomorphological, quaternary geological and pedological study of the northeastern Alentejo (Portugal), from a geoarchaeological perspective
Assignment: FWO
Grant holder(s): Sarah Deprez
Description: This research deals with the historical interactions between man and the environment in the rural Northeastern Alentejo region, with a focus on the Roman period. Major geoarchaeological themes under investigation comprise the water supply of the Roman town of Ammaia, the quarries providing the granite building stone for the city, and a large gold mine in the north of its territory.
Research assistant(s): Sarah Deprez
Project time: 01/10/2003 - 30/09/2008
Paléo-Environnements des Iles Sub-Antarctiques et Changements Globaux (PEISACG)
Assignment: Institut Polaire Français Paul-Emile Victor, Brest, France
Grant holder(s): Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu | Institut Méditerranéen d'Ecologie et de Paléoécologie (IMEP), Aix-en Provence, France
Research assistant(s): Nathalie Van der Putten
Description: An integrated study of the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatological archives (lakes and peat/organic rich sediments) of the Kerguelen archipelago was preformed, based on a multi-proxy approach: palaeobiology, seismic investigations, sedimentology, geophysical and geochemical analyses. Post-Last Glacial Maximum climate change of the Kerguelen archipelago will be determined and compared with that of the rest of the world.
Project time: 10/2006 until 10/2007
Post-glacial palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology in the sub-Antarctic
Assignment: Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds UGent
Grant holder(s): Prof. Dr. Morgan De Dapper
Research assistant(s): Nathalie Van der Putten
Description: During four field campaigns on two sub-Antarctic islands, South Georgia and Iles de la Possession (Iles Crozet), several peat and lake sediment sequences were sampled in the context of palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatological research. On South Georgia plant macrofossil analysis was successfully applied on organic sediments of the infilling of a glacially eroded rock basin. The application of the same method on the other cores will result in a palaeoclimatological reconstruction for both islands and the wider sub-Antarctic for the post-glacial period.
Project time: 01/01/2005 until 31/12/2006